Game Set Match
by Cloudwatchers
Summary: Tomoyo wakes froma dream, to find kurogane has returned but at what cost? Not KxT, probable angst


Tomoyo centric, and I might add some later, but a one-shot for now, let me know how it is

Disclaimer:Don't own anything but the idea.

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Game. Set. Match.

She wasn't sure why the words slid into her mind when she woke up that morning. It was as any other morning, servants already bustling around. It was normal. Just like it had been ever since she had sent Kurogane away. Instead of the ninja shouting orders at the squads, Soma giving soft but firm commands. Instead she and Soma ruthlessly teasing the tall man, soft, polite word exchanged. Her sister often commented on how peaceful life was now that Kurogane was away. Even assassination attempts were now few and far between. It seemed more attempts were made more to the intent of trying to face off the ninja, who was indeed stronger than all of them, if only physically.

It wasn't until the rain began to pour and the panicked cry of a guard for the healers that she realized why today was different. He was home. After all this time, he was home. She didn't remember leaving her balcony but the next thing she knew, she was already down to the courtyard, barely over coming the shock that she received in seeing the arrivals. There he was, like she had never scene him before. Helpless, so close to death, but so incredibly calm, so accepting. But she could not dwell on such thoughts, stepping forward to comfort his companions. She quickly gave a set of orders, the girl taken and bandaged up, the boy as well, though he insisted on staying by the hime's side. The mage though, stayed with her and Kurogane, cleaning him up, and watching her heal him, then proceeding to wrap the bandages around his torso.

The blond stayed there the whole time, refusing to move, till he was too tried to resist the urging to clean up and rest.

She sat and watched the ninjas face. If it hadn't been for the slight rise and fall of his chest, one wouldn't have been able to tell if he were alive or not. He looked serene. She couldn't ever remember him ever looking this calm, this at peace. She had only one memory of seeing him sleep. Then, even in sleep, heartache and pain were etched into him. Now, there was peace in his features, acceptance. The ninja never accepted anything without voicing his opinion loud and clear. Peace was never a word you _could_ associate with him, yet here it was.

It was something she had prayed he would find, but...

It was wrong. It wasn't who he was.

During one of her vigils at his side, he finally woke up.

She smiled as the first thing he did was yell for his comrades. Still smiling, she told him of everything that had happened. Then, the question she knew she had to ask.

"Have you understood the meaning of true strength?"

That grin, "Who knows...?"

Then he spoke again, surprising her, as words of hard earned wisdom poured from his mouth, also asking about the seal, and only gifting her with more surprise and gratification that he truly had learned what he had been sent out to find.

When she invited the mage in, she was surprised to see the painful bleakness in Kurogane's eyes as he looked up at the blond, uttering "hey..." when the mage promptly decked the ninja, startling her and definitely Kurogane, from the shocked and surprised look on his face.

"This is my payback...Kuro-_sama_" he said, emphasizing the last syllables. She briefly wondered if Kurogane was going to start yelling at him for mutilating his name. Instead surprise, quickly over run by a fierce happiness she had never seen in him before, as he smirked and gave his trademark "tch"

"Bastard, I'll beat you up..." the remark was followed by a grin from both men.

Tomoyo felt as if someone had just told a joke and she missed the punch-line. But she smiled anyway, it wasn't of her concern. She slipped out of the room quietly, smiling as she watched Fai gracefully seat himself beside Kurogane as they began to talk quietly.

She sighed, she honestly should have seen this coming. He was being stubborn again, refusing to simply answer a few questions. He sister had insisted, both curious and wary of what the ninja had learned and seen in the other worlds. Soma was seated on her right, while her sister sat next to her, all three facing the stubborn ninja who faced them, Fai choosing to stand by the door. Not only did he refuse to answer anything they asked, he didn't meet any of their gazes, simply looking at their faces in an imitation. It frustrated her, and more so worried her. Her sister was the first to loose patience.

"Damn it, Kurogane! Knock it off and answer the damn question!" the Empress of Japan shrieked at him. No response, not even an irritated twitch, or flare of anger in red eyes, just...apathy. And something else she could not yet identify, something that those red eyes was hiding from her.

"Kurogane," Tomoyo said softly, "Please look at me, at us, instead of staring off into the distance." she said it is such a way that refusal was not an option. Silence stretched, and the guards at the door shifted nervously, wanting to know what was to happen, and also dreading it, such as id Kurogane actually tried to attack, there was know way in hell or heaven that they would be able to stop him. More silence.

"Don't hide..." the little whisper that escaped her did not go unnoticed by the ninja, a slight flicker of the eyes was the only sign that he had heard them. Then he sighed. It wasn't irritated, angry, or anything she would have thought the dark haired man would do. It was almost...longing, wistful. She nearly laughed. Wistful was never a word used for _Kurogane_. She smiled softly, knowing she ahd won this small battle.

Cloth shifted, as Kurogane sat up straight, though his head was still bowed for a moment before he lifted red eyes and met each one of their gazes in turn, holding them in place with his eyes, so they could see what he had hidden in those scarlet depths.

When red met purple, time stopped for a moment for one, while for the other, it past just as slow as it always did, allowing each cut and wound to throb in unison. Fractures made their was across her heart, threatening to break. The other, was to bruised, still raw and bleeding, hollow, to feel much else.

There was strength there, no doubt, but...there was something missing. A light that she was so used to seeing in over bright crimson eyes, never daring to let a single tear fall, always putting duty before anything else, yet always making time to irritate her with his over protective personality. No one she would trust more. That light that made him seem so vibrantly alive, was dimmed, shoved away. Weariness was there, as was sadness, pain that could not be soothed by healing balms and gentle hands. In those bloody red depths, there held no forgiveness.

For one who had crushed the light out of so many others, he held something far more painful, for at least those who fell, were now allowed to sleep in peace. Shadows that held residence on his face left evidence that no such mercy was given to him, even in sleep.

Purple eyes watered, and a smile shattered. She dropped her eyes to her lap, glancing at the others, she saw similar expressions. "You may go..." he smiled at them, like a parent smiles at a child when they finally see understanding, that the child sees how he erred.

Standing gracefully, he bowed, "your highness, milady, Soma...-san." And with a fluid movement he turned and strode out of the room, Fai turning and matching his stride as they left together.

Purple eye's watched them leave, and tears slid down pale cheeks, as not even the Empress nor the head of the ninja army could have been prepared for this.

So thats how it was, she had lost, in the long run, after all...

Game. Set. Match.

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Let me know, ya hate in, ya love it, review

Cloud


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